Hanukkah wouldn't be Hanukkah for many of us without crispy latkes

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Good potato latkes, hot and light and crisp and lacy around the edges, don't last long in a crowd. Such was the case with Marcy Goldman's latkes on Saturday afternoon.

About 100 or so bite-size latkes disappeared in short order at the Appetite for Books cookbook store in Westmount, inhaled by the 35 or so people who turned out to hear the popular Montreal baker and writer speak and to watch her demonstrate a couple of recipes.

The latkes are among Goldman's 30 favourite Jewish holiday cooking recipes. They're in a new chapter in the just-published 10th-anniversary edition of her popular Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking (Whitecap Books, $29.95).

Goldman calls her latkes, or pancakes, New Way Hanukkah Potato Latkes. "New way" involves parboiling the potatoes before grating them: She discovered some years back that the technique makes for light, crisp latkes that cook quickly.

Since the eight-day festival of Hanukkah, which begins Friday at sundown, wouldn't seem like Hanukkah for many of us without potato latkes, it seems appropriate to be talking about them now.

New Way Hanukkah Potato Latkes

Makes 3 to 3-1/2 dozen small latkes

I've adapted this recipe only slightly from the one in the new edition of Goldman's cookbook.

5 or 6 medium to large red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled

4 eggs, lightly whisked

1 small to medium onion, finely grated

1 tablespoon (15 mL) matzo meal or all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon (5 mL) salt, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon (1 mL) pepper, or to taste

Vegetable oil for frying

Place potatoes in a medium-size pot and just cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the pot comes to a boil, set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes. When the timer rings or buzzes, remove potatoes from stove, add cold water to cover and drain pot immediately. Cover potatoes again, this time with very cold water. Let sit five minutes, then remove them and pat them dry.

With a hand grater - use the largest holes with a box grater - or a food processor fitted with the medium shredding disc, grate the potatoes. Discard peel as it separates from potato, but don't worry if bits of it are grated in with the potatoes. In a large bowl, mix the shredded potatoes, eggs, onion, flour or matzo meal, salt and pepper.

Into a large, deep frying pan or a wok, pour in enough vegetable oil to reach at least halfway up the pan and heat. If you're using an electric frying pan, set it to 350 or 375 degrees F (180 or 190C). Drop the potato batter by teaspoons into the hot oil, flattening slightly with a metal spatula if desired, and taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Fry in batches. Goldman uses metal tongs to drop in and turn the latkes. Brown on one side, then turn and complete cook on the other side. These latkes cook quickly. They should be puffy at the centre and crisp and lacy at the edges.

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